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Net Neutrality and the Stimulus Package

After years of struggle, it appears that Net Neutrality is finally going to happen. If you are not familiar with Net Neutrality and why it is important, go to Save The Internet.com. I have commented on it numerous times over the past few years. At times, I was convinced that the powerful telecom corporations would be successful in taking control of the Internet from the people.

But, Obama’s election has appeared to put life back in the Net Neutrality movement. Perhaps the most important indicator is the appointment of Julius Genachowski as chair of the FCC, who is known to be deeply committed to Net Neutrality.

Friday, Declan McCullagh reported on cnet news that the House Democrats have attached Net Neutrality rules to the $825 billion stimulus bill. McCullagh considers this to be a bad idea, but it is important to understand that he is against any sort of regulation that might infringe on the right of giant corporations like AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast to do whatever they please. McCullagh, who describes himself as,

…an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, “We oughta have a new federal law against this.”

exposes his bias when he quotes a bogus report by the US Chamber of Commerce that claims:

that the absence of Net neutrality laws or similar federally mandated regulations has spurred telecommunications companies to invest heavily in infrastructure, and changing the rules “would have a devastating effect on the U.S. economy, investment, and innovation.”

It will be fun watching the anti-regulation, the market is always right, libertarians lose the battles that they have managed to win since the “Reagan Revolution.”